Which Ancient/Medieval civilizations that gave largest contributions to humankind?

Largest contributions to the world?

  • Western (Greeks/Romans/Byzantines/Medieval Europeans)

    Votes: 38 44.2%
  • Middle-Eastern (Babylonians/Assyrians/Akkadians/Sumerians/Egyptians/Persians/Arabs)

    Votes: 44 51.2%
  • Far Eastern (Warring-States/Han/Tang/Song Chinese)

    Votes: 4 4.7%

  • Total voters
    86
I'm sorry, but where's India? SE Asia? Korea? Japan?
That's like asking "Where're purple and orange?" in a "Whch one is more beautiful, red, blue, or green?".
Anyway...Japanese and Koreans are in the Far East, of course, but I don't remember Ancient/Medieval Japanese/Koreans invented something...significant?

The Middle Eastern civilization such as Sumer, Akkad, Bablyonia, Persia, Phoenicia, etc. but I can't say that I like this poll one bit.
Because there is no Maya/Inca/Aztec option, I guess...?

The Far East did most of the things accomplished by the Middle East independently (and, in my impression, more steadily), but were too isolated, thus their overall contribution to civilization as a whole was not as great.
Ahem...ever heard about Four Great Inventions of ancient China?
Like an English philosopher once said:
"Papermaking, printing, gunpowder and the compass: These four have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first and the second in literature, the third in warfare, the fouth in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries."

And the fact that the last option get only 2 votes out of 55 voters, pretty much proves that this forum way too underestimate Chinese contributions...
 
Ahem...ever heard about Four Great Inventions of ancient China?
Like an English philosopher once said:
"Papermaking, printing, gunpowder and the compass: These four have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first and the second in literature, the third in warfare, the fouth in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries."

And the fact that the last option get only 2 votes out of 55 voters, pretty much proves that this forum way too underestimate Chinese contributions...
Seconded. The Chinese made a huge technical contribution, and although I voted for the Middle East, the Chinese would have come a close second for me, with Europe being a distant third. This was before Europe's glory days, and indeed, "Western Civilization" wasn't particularly distinct from anything else around the Mediterranean basin. It seems people do underestimate the Chinese, and overestimate the contributions of Europe in this period.
 
There's so much ambiguity between independent innovation and gradual diffusion of ideas and technology that I'm inclined to say that all three deserve equal recognition for their advancements of humankind.
 
I'm going to take the liberty of adding India to the "Far East" category since they were left out, and as such proclaim Far East civilization the most productive. Of course the two are entirely distinct, but it's not any more absurd then putting Persians and Egyptians in the same category. Hell I'd go so far as to say that it makes more sense to put Iran and India in the same category then it does Iran and Egypt.
 
I'm going to take the liberty of adding India to the "Far East" category since they were left out, and as such proclaim Far East civilization the most productive. Of course the two are entirely distinct, but it's not any more absurd then putting Persians and Egyptians in the same category. Hell I'd go so far as to say that it makes more sense to put Iran and India in the same category then it does Iran and Egypt.

Indeed, it looks like I'm making a huge mistake. More or less agree with your statements about Egypt, Persia, and India (as well as other posters' opinions about the West and the rest of Mediterranean world were closely linked during Ancient, and in a lesser extent, Medieval, age)...but I don't think India is qualified as Far Eastern civilization.

Maybe the first and second options should be edited into something like this:
1. Euro-Mediterranean (Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans, Byzantines, Medieval Europeans)
2. Middle-Eastern-Indian (Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Indians, Arabs)
 
There's so much ambiguity between independent innovation and gradual diffusion of ideas and technology that I'm inclined to say that all three deserve equal recognition for their advancements of humankind.

This is kinda my view. China did invent a lot of stuff, but it wasn't like the Middle East wasn't advanced, and the Middle East was in the center and thus able to "contribute" more. Europe, on the other hand, really stagnated after Greece and Rome.
 
Why I chose the Middle East

My apologies for basing my reasoning more on real life than Age of Empires; my choice for the Middle East is complex, but basically goes down to this:

The Middle East contacted the West and East, more than either of the others did in reverse.
The Middle East preserved the wisdom of the East and West more than either of the others.
The Middle East is the home of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which likewise spread both East and West.
The Middle East is the home of more civilizations that were more interested in contacting, and learning from, other peoples, than forcing other peoples to be like them.
 
This is a really pointless poll as the boundaries of these areas overlapped. Not to mention it's all in all a stupid, vague idea. Contributions is such a vague term it's silly.
 
The Middle East leads much of the West, so they can be seen as one as the same. Without a doubt the West and Middle East culture dominates the planet today.
 
This is a really pointless poll as the boundaries of these areas overlapped. Not to mention it's all in all a stupid, vague idea. Contributions is such a vague term it's silly.

Well, Mr. Genius and Smart, then why bother commenting in this thread at all?

I'm tired of seeing people cluttering threads that they don't like with insults and harsh words. If you don't like a thread, just ignore it...please.
 
Well, the city of Uruk is in the 'Middle East' area. So I suppose they win. But really, everyone did a fair bit from time to time, which is why I haven't voted for anyone.
 
Can I point out that it was the Germanic people who gave most of the west its government (modern democracy was founded in England at a time when the population was Anglo-Saxon and the rulers were Norman-French).

Of course the whole thing's a bunk really, because Hammurabi is no more related to Saladin than Vercingetorix is to Napoleon.
 
Well, Mr. Genius and Smart, then why bother commenting in this thread at all?

I'm tired of seeing people cluttering threads that they don't like with insults and harsh words. If you don't like a thread, just ignore it...please.

Putting aside his unnecessary disregard for tact, the rest of his point is correct.

The thing is this kind of topic often, while not always, operates on the basis of affirmation of cultural superiority of a certain group over another, and indeed began there, and the mental damages and factual distortions the victorious historiographies have respectively inflicted and caused has ,frankly, infuriated many of those who have passed a certain point in their indulgement into history.
 
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